Les Dennis biography, Personal life, Early life, Career Les Dennis : biography 12 October 1953 - Les Dennis (born Leslie Dennis Heseltine; on 12 October 1953) is an English comedian, television presenter and actor. He was best known as the host of Family Fortunes for 15 years. Personal life Dennis married actress Amanda Holden on 4 June 1995. They had a temporary split in 2000 when Holden's affair with actor Neil Morrissey was exposed in the press, before eventually separating in December 2002 and divorcing in 2003. Dennis met Claire Nicholson in 2005. The couple have a daughter, Eleanor Grace, who was born on 24 April 2008; Dennis and Nicholson were married on 23 November 2009 in Highgate. Their son Thomas Christopher was born on 14 April 2011. Dennis is a Liverpool fan, despite the fact that his mother was a Manchester United supporter. Early life Dennis was born in Garston, Liverpool, Lancashire.

His father worked in a betting shop after service in the Royal Navy during World War II and a period as a football player on the books of Liverpool F.C. (but did not play for the first team), whilst his mother worked in a factory. He attended the Stockton Wood and Joseph Williams primary schools and then Quarry Bank High School after passing the Eleven plus exam. He had a Saturday job in Burton's clothes store whilst still at school and started in entertainment as a stand-up comedian in working men's clubs. Career Early work and Family Fortunes As a comedian Dennis worked the North West social and working men's clubs. He was given his earliest opportunities by Liverpool based husband and wife theatrical agents Stuart and Dorene Gillespie ( Stuart and Dorene had been a successful act themselves in Variety ) and in his autobiography he credits them with discovering him. His first radio appearance was in 1971 on Stuart's BBC Radio Merseyside series Variety Time (The programmes were taped in front of a live audience in Merseyside Clubs ). In 1974, he won "New Faces", an ITV talent show and appeared on numerous light-entertainment shows.

In 1982, he joined as one of the team on Russ Abbot's Madhouse and The Russ Abbot Show before forming a comedy partnership with fellow impressionist Dustin Gee, which in turn led to a series of their own, The Laughter Show. Following Gee's death in 1986, Les carried on The Laughter Show as a solo performer and became the third host of Family Fortunes for a fifteen-year run from 1987 to 2002. Theatre work His theatre work included Amos Hart in Chicago, Bill Snibson in Me and My Girl in the West End. He had starred in Skylight at the Water Mill Theatre, Newbury, Berkshire; Mr Wonderful at the Gateway Theatre, Chester, Misery at the Coliseum Theatre, Oldham; toured in the play Just Between Ourselves and appeared with Janet Suzman in Cherished Disappointments In Love at London's Soho Theatre. He starred with Christopher Cazenove and John Duttine in a national tour of 'Art' and as Norman Bartholomew in Anthony Shaffer's dark comedy Murderer at London's Menier Chocolate Factory.

He also starred in a hit season in Neville's Island at Birmingham Repertory Theatre. He appeared in the role of Mr. Fulton in "High School Musical 2" in a UK tour from late August 2009 to February 2010. He had also made an appearance on two episodes of Bang Bang, It's Reeves and Mortimer in The Club sketch, where he played himself. He also took part in a video-only special of Shooting Stars in 1993, where Vic Reeves introduced him pronouncing his name as if it were French saying "Les Dennis, the French fire engine". He toured in Hairspray as Wilbur Turnblad alongside Michael Ball, Brian Conley and Michael Starke – who alternated the role of Edna Turnblad. He is currently starring in the touring production of Legally Blonde The Musical playing the role of Professor Callahan. Film work Dennis' big screen debut was in the film Intimate Relations with Julie Walters, Rupert Graves and Laura Sadler and he appeared in the comedy feature film Large and in Wildlife, a short directed by Nick Allsop.

Les Dennis : definition of Les Dennis and synonyms of Les Dennis (English) 5 External links Early life Dennis was born in Garston , Liverpool , Lancashire . [1] His father worked in a betting shop after service in the Royal Navy during World War II and a period as a football player on the books of Liverpool F.C. (but did not play for the first team), [2] whilst his mother worked in a factory. He attended the Stockton Wood and Joseph Williams primary schools and then Quarry Bank High School after passing the Eleven plus exam. [3] He had a Saturday job in Burton's clothes store whilst still at school and started in entertainment as a stand-up comedian in working men's clubs . Career Early work and Family Fortunes As a comedian Dennis worked the North West social and working men's clubs. He was given his earliest opportunities by Liverpool based husband and wife theatrical agents Stuart and Dorene Gillespie ( Stuart and Dorene had been a successful act themselves in Variety ) and in his autobiography he credits them with discovering him. His first radio appearance was in 1971 on Stuart's BBC Radio Merseyside series Variety Time (The programmes were taped in front of a live audience in Merseyside Clubs ).

In 1974, he won " New Faces ", an ITV talent show and appeared on numerous light-entertainment shows. In 1982, he joined as one of the team on Russ Abbot's Madhouse and The Russ Abbot Show before forming a comedy partnership with fellow impressionist Dustin Gee , which in turn led to a series of their own, The Laughter Show. Following Gee's death in 1986, Les carried on The Laughter Show as a solo performer and became the third host of Family Fortunes for a fifteen-year run from 1987 to 2002. Theatre work His theatre work included Amos Hart in Chicago , Bill Snibson in Me and My Girl in the West End. He had starred in Skylight at the Water Mill Theatre, Newbury , Berkshire ; Mr Wonderful at the Gateway Theatre , Chester , Misery at the Coliseum Theatre , Oldham ; toured in the play Just Between Ourselves and appeared with Janet Suzman in Cherished Disappointments In Love at London's Soho Theatre .

He starred with Christopher Cazenove and John Duttine in a national tour of 'Art' and as Norman Bartholomew in Anthony Shaffer 's dark comedy Murderer at London's Menier Chocolate Factory . He also starred in a hit season in Neville's Island at Birmingham Repertory Theatre . He appeared in the role of Mr. Fulton in " High School Musical 2 " in a UK tour from late August 2009 to February 2010. He had also made an appearance on two episodes of Bang Bang, It's Reeves and Mortimer in The Club sketch, where he played himself. He also took part in a video -only special of Shooting Stars in 1993, where Vic Reeves introduced him pronouncing his name as if it were French saying "Les Dennis, the French fire engine ". He toured in Hairspray as Wilbur Turnblad alongside Michael Ball , Brian Conley and Michael Starke – who alternated the role of Edna Turnblad. He is currently starring in the touring production of Legally Blonde The Musical playing the role of Professor Callahan.

[4] Film work Dennis' big screen debut was in the film Intimate Relations with Julie Walters , Rupert Graves and Laura Sadler and he appeared in the comedy feature film Large and in Wildlife, a short directed by Nick Allsop. Soap acting Dennis acted in soap operas Brookside , Merseybeat , Family Affairs , Casualty and the short-lived revival of Crossroads plus Hotel Babylon (for one episode). Big Brother and beyond Dennis appeared in the second series of the UK Celebrity Big Brother during the period when his marriage to Amanda Holden was breaking down again – he described his time in the BB House as "not one of his wisest moves", although he went on to finish as runner-up to Mark Owen .[ citation needed ] On 11 August 2005 Dennis appeared as a guest star in an episode of the first series BBC -series Extras written by and starring Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant . In this appearance, Dennis portrayed a fictional version of himself, alongside Gerard Kelly , who played a camp theatre director, the recurring character Bunny. In early 2006, Dennis presented and performed in BBC One's The Sound of Musicals and guested in New Street Law on BBC One.

In summer 2006, he played scriptwriter Nick Chase in a new comedy play called Marlon Brando's Corset , which toured the UK from July 2006, including a month-long run at the Edinburgh Fringe . [5] He appeared as a guest in August 2006 on the ITV drama series, The Bill starring as a man suspected of murdering his father. Dennis appeared alongside fellow former Russ Abbot performer Lisa Maxwell , who played D.I. Samantha Nixon in the series. At the 2006 Edinburgh International Television Festival , it was announced Les would make a return to the gameshow genre, presenting a new big-money quiz show titled In the Grid for Channel 5 . The show debuted on 30 October 2006. From April 2007, he also hosted UKTV Gold 's TV Now and Then quiz show. The same month he guest starred on BBC One's Holby City . He appeared on The Friday Night Project as a panellist on "Who knows the most about the guest host?" when Rupert Everett guest hosted. In theatre Les guest-starred as narrator in Side by Side by Sondheim at the Venue , London.

As one of the team, he completed running the Safaricom Marathon in Lewa to raise funds for the BBC Wildlife Fund, screened on BBC One's Saving Planet Earth in July 2007. In August 2007, he starred in the hit play Certified Male- about the highs and lows of modern manhood – at the Edinburgh Festival . He then toured in The Servant of Two Masters, directed by Michael Bogdanov and at Christmas he returned to pantomime after a ten year break, co-starring in Cinderella with Hollywood veteran Mickey Rooney at the Empire Theatre , Sunderland , produced by First Family Entertainment. Recent work This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources . Please help by adding reliable sources . Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately. (February 2011) Les Dennis' autobiography, Must The Show Go On?, was published by Orion in early 2008. In April 2008, Dennis toured in Eurobeat Almost Eurovision prior to a West End season in the show.

Also in 2008, he narrated the home video clip show on Challenge , Les Dennis's Home Video Heroes , and appeared in the ITV documentary Les Dennis' Liverpool, which was, coincidentally, broadcast a week after BBC Two ran Alexei Sayle 's Liverpool, a three-part documentary on the city. During Christmas 2008 panto season, Dennis appeared as Buttons in Cinderella at the Empire Theatre , Liverpool. The pantomime also featured Jennifer Ellison as Cinderella, and Cilla Black as the Fairy Godmother . At Christmas 2008, Les was featured on the Wombats ' Christmas single and video Is This Christmas? in aid of MENCAP. In 2009, Dennis played Herbert Soppitt in J.B. Priestley 's When We Are Married at the West Yorkshire Playhouse , Leeds and the Playhouse , Liverpool. At Christmas 2009, he returned to the Liverpool Empire to appear in Peter Pan with Fonz actor Henry Winkler and again in 2010 to play the role of Aladdin's brother, Wishee Washee in Aladdin.

As of 2010, Dennis presents the children's TV series Fee Fi Fo Yum for CBBC . From 17 October 2011, Dennis was due to start a week-long stint in Countdown's Dictionary Corner. In 2011 he again worked with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant , with recurring appearances as a fictionalized version of himself in the Warwick Davis comedy series, “ Life’s Too Short ”. [6] In August 2012 he will be performing in the play Jigsy at the Assembly Rooms (Edinburgh) as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival . Personal life Dennis married actress Amanda Holden on 4 June 1995. They had a temporary split in 2000 when Holden's affair with actor Neil Morrissey [7] was exposed in the press, before eventually separating in December 2002 and divorcing in 2003. [8] Dennis met Claire Nicholson in 2005. The couple have a daughter, Eleanor Grace, who was born on 24 April 2008; [9] Dennis and Nicholson were married on 23 November 2009 in Highgate .

[10] Their son Thomas Christopher was born on 14 April 2011. [11] Dennis is a Liverpool fan, despite the fact that his mother was a Manchester United supporter. [2] References Les Dennis: The day that changed my life | Daily Mail Online comments Les Dennis recalls his friendship with his comedy partner Dustin Gee As a young comedian playing the working men's clubs in the 70s, I'd been in awe of Dustin Gee. One night at a club in Hull I saw a poster saying, 'For one night only… Dustin Gee!' He hadn't done much TV, but he was a big draw on the club circuit. In the early 80s I landed a job on Russ Abbott's Madhouse. Dustin was already working on the show and I'll never forget him walking through the door, all 6ft of him, announcing, 'I come bearing gifts!' even if it was only a bottle of warm Blue Nun wine to welcome me. My then manager, who also looked after Dustin, suggested I move into his flat in London and help with the rent. We became as close as brothers, and after we formed a double act I was catapulted to fame.

Sharing a flat with Dustin - famous for his Basil Fawlty impression - was a scream. We worked well together too, and a BBC big cheese said he'd like to give us a show of our own, The Laughter Show. I learnt a huge amount from Dustin, who was about ten years older than me. His attention to detail when it came to doing impressions was extraordinary - I remember watching him putting a wig on a block and dressing it to look like Rod Stewart's hair - and I've still got all his props in my loft at home. A comic duo: Les Dennis and Dustin Gee in 1985 Then he was diagnosed with the heart muscle disease cardiomyopathy in 1985. We were topping the bill at the North Pier in Blackpool and we got to the interval when Dustin said, 'I don't feel well.' RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share A doctor examined him and found he'd had a mild heart attack. But he insisted on finishing the show, then he was whisked to hospital.

Les Dennis (right) and Dustin Gee (left) appearing in their television programme Laughter Show Les and Dustin lived together in a flat in London where Les said they became 'as close as brothers' We carried on working together once he'd recovered and were in panto in Southport when he had a massive heart attack on New Year's Day 1986. He spent a couple of days in a coma then died, aged 43. I was devastated by Dustin's loss, and love to think we would have carried on working together. But however things had panned out had he lived, I know that we would have remained mates, because we always made each other laugh. As told to York Membery Les appears in The Perfect Murder, currently touring the UK. For tickets visit Les Dennis mourns Dustin Gee, who died after collapsing at panto in Southport - Southport Visiter News Les Dennis mourns Dustin Gee, who died after collapsing at panto in Southport "30 years ago I opened in Cinderella at Southport Theatre with my partner Dustin Gee. It was our last job together" Share Dustin Gee January 1985 on beach with fellow comerdian partner Les Dennis.

Photo: Daily Record Share Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email TV star Les Dennis has looked back on the tragic day when his great friend and comedy partner Dustin Gee died after performing in the Cinderella pantomine in Southport. The comedians were performing together as the Ugly Sisters at Southport Theatre in 1985, to huge acclaim - a role they had played together in Bradford two years earlier, alongside Russ Abbott. But on New Year’s night 1986, Dustin Gee suffered a severe heart attack. Les Dennis posted this Tweet this afternoon, remembering his great friend: At the end of a scene, Dustin Gee suddenly clutched his left arm when they reached their dressing room and said “I think I am dying”. He collapsed shortly after. Basil Soper, the show’s company manager, revived him before his PA, Roger Edwards, accompanied him to Southport Hospital. On 2 January 2, Dennis and Edwards were by his bedside. Gee was unconscious but they both urged him to keep fighting and he raised a finger. Gee woke up suddenly at 8am on January 3.

He asked for a cup of tea and for ice cream, and according to the family members who were with him, was “quite chatty”. He thanked them for coming, said that they must see him in pantomime when he recovered and asked where his watch was. He was sat up for a while and it appeared as if he was going to survive and recover. However, later that morning he lost consciousness again and died at 12.45pm. Russ Abbot said that he was devastated at the news, and called Gee a “Great trouper and entertainer.” Dustin Gee’s funeral was held on January 9 at St Oswald’s Church, at Fulford, York. Three hundred people attended. Famous names included: Elizabeth Dawn, Bill Tarmey, Thelma Barlow, Dana, John Hamp, The Krankies, John Birt and Les Dennis. Floral tributes and wreaths were sent by Danny La Rue, Jimmy Tarbuck, Sarah Greene, Mike Smith, Des O’Connor, Tom O’Connor, Les Dawson, Bill Cotton, Larry Grayson, Ernie Wise, Lord Delfont, Russ Abbot and Jeffrey Holland. He was later cremated at a private ceremony.

Dustin Gee was born in York in June 1942. Les Dennis With Dustin Gee Comedian And The Ray Cornell Dancers At Blackpool Dbase. Photo: Daily Mirror In his early performing career played in the band ‘Gerry B and the Rockafellas’, before becoming a compere, then later a comedian. In 1975 he met his future comedy partner Les Dennis for the first time. After 20 years in show business, he got his television break on Who Do You Do?, an ITV showcase for up and coming entertainers and impressionists, where they impersonated a host of stars, including Robert Mitchum and Mick Jagger. From April 1980, Gee was a cast member on Russ Abbot’s Madhouse programme. By this time he was a huge cabaret star in the UK, selling out theatres and nightclubs by word of mouth alone. This was the show that included his most famous impression, as Coronation Street’s Vera Duckworth in two-handers with Mavis Riley (played by Les Dennis). His take on John Cleese as eccentric hotel owner Basil Fawlty was acclaimed by Cleese himself as the “best he’d seen”.

Billy Connolly told his partner Les Dennis that he always wanted to meet Gee and regretted that he never did so. When he perfected his imitation of Larry Grayson (comedy star of the 1970s/1980s), he was to be joined by him on stage and a friendship grew, so good was the ‘impression’. He formed a partnership with Les Dennis and they were given their own show on BBC 1 called “The Laughter Show”. The first episode was shown on 7 April 1984. In May 1985 Dustin fell ill whilst on stage on the opening night of a summer season at the North Pier in Blackpool. He carried on and was taken to hospital afterwards where a slight heart attack was diagnosed. Gee was also told he had cardiomyopathy and that he should take it easy. He took a month off, and returned on his birthday, to complete the run until the end of September, thus ignoring doctors who told him to take six months off. That autumn Gee and Dennis recorded the third series of their Laughter Show, which was shown on BBC 1 after Gee’s death.

Like us on Facebook Les Dennis - iSnare Free Encyclopedia Les Dennis Dennis in Cardiff Bay in 2010 Born Broadcaster, actor, game show host, comedian Years active Children 3 Leslie Heseltine, known as Les Dennis (born 12 October 1953) is an English television presenter, actor and comedian, best known as the presenter of Family Fortunes for 15 years from 1987 until 2002. He has played the role of Michael Rodwell in Coronation Street from 2014 to 2016. Contents 6 External links Early life Dennis was born in Garston , Liverpool . [1] His father worked in a betting shop after service in the Royal Navy during World War II and a period as a football player on the books of Liverpool F.C. (but did not play for the first team), [2] whilst his mother worked in a factory.

Whilst living in a prefab in Speke , he attended the Stockton Wood and Joseph Williams primary schools and then Quarry Bank High School after passing the 11-plus , by which time his family had moved to Childwall [3] He had a Saturday job in Burton's clothes store whilst still at school and started in entertainment as a stand-up comedian in working men's clubs . Career Early work and Family Fortunes As a comedian Dennis worked the North West social and working men's clubs. He was given his earliest opportunities by Liverpool-based husband and wife theatrical agents Stuart and Dorene Gillespie (Stuart and Dorene had been a successful act themselves in variety) and in his autobiography he credits them with discovering him. His first radio appearance was in 1971 on Stuart's BBC Radio Merseyside series Variety Time (the programmes were taped in front of a live audience in Merseyside clubs). In 1974, he won New Faces , an ITV talent show and appeared on numerous light-entertainment shows.

Dennis almost became the first contestant ever to score the maximum 120 points on New Faces; but had to settle for 119 when Tony Hatch gave him 9 out of 10 in his final mark, drawing derision from the rest of the panel that included Arthur Askey . In 1982, he joined as one of the team on Russ Abbot's Madhouse and The Russ Abbot Show before forming a comedy partnership with fellow impressionist Dustin Gee , which in turn led to a series of their own, The Laughter Show. Following Gee's sudden and unexpected death on 3 January 1986, Dennis carried on The Laughter Show as a solo performer and became the third host of Family Fortunes for a fifteen-year run from 1987 to 2002. It was at a recording of an episode of Family Fortunes in 1997 that Les Dennis was surprised by the This Is Your Life team, with host Michael Aspel coming onto the set just at the conclusion of one episode to present Les with the "big red book" and to say "This Is Your Life" to a shocked Les.

Aspel had arranged for the Family Fortunes buzzer to keep sounding at the end of the episode where Les usually says goodbye to the viewers, and to have the words "Les Dennis Tonight..." appear on the Family Fortunes big studio screen, much to the bewilderment of Les, who only realised what was happening when he turned around and saw Michael Aspel walking onto the set. [4] Theatre His theatre work included Amos Hart in Chicago , Bill Snibson in Me and My Girl in the West End. He had starred in Skylight at the Water Mill Theatre, Newbury , Berkshire ; Mr Wonderful at the Gateway Theatre , Chester , Misery at the Coliseum Theatre , Oldham ; toured in the play Just Between Ourselves and appeared with Janet Suzman in Cherished Disappointments In Love at London's Soho Theatre . He starred with Christopher Cazenove and John Duttine in a national tour of 'Art' and as Norman Bartholomew in Anthony Shaffer 's dark comedy Murderer at London's Menier Chocolate Factory . He also starred in a hit season in Neville's Island at Birmingham Repertory Theatre .

He appeared in the role of Mr Fulton in " High School Musical 2 " in a UK tour from late August 2009 to February 2010. He had also made an appearance on two episodes of Bang Bang, It's Reeves and Mortimer in The Club sketch, where he played himself. He also took part in a video -only special of Shooting Stars in 1993, where Vic Reeves introduced him pronouncing his name as if it were French saying "Les Dennis, the French fire engine ". He toured in Hairspray as Wilbur Turnblad alongside Michael Ball , Brian Conley and Michael Starke – who alternated the role of Edna Turnblad. In 2012 he starred in the touring production of Legally Blonde The Musical playing the role of Professor Callahan. [5] Film Dennis' big screen debut was in the film Intimate Relations with Julie Walters , Rupert Graves and Laura Sadler and he appeared in the comedy feature film Large and in Wildlife, a short directed by Nick Allsop.

Other acting work Dennis has appeared as Jeff Evans in Brookside (2001), Merseybeat , Family Affairs , Casualty , the short-lived revival of Crossroads and Hotel Babylon (2006; guest appearance). Big Brother Dennis appeared in the second series of the UK Celebrity Big Brother during the period when his marriage to Amanda Holden was breaking down again – he described his time in the BB House as "not one of his wisest moves", although he went on to finish as runner-up to Mark Owen .[ citation needed ] 2005–2007 On 11 August 2005 Dennis appeared as a guest star in an episode of the first series BBC -series Extras written by and starring Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant . In this appearance, Dennis portrayed a fictional version of himself, alongside Gerard Kelly , who played a camp theatre director, the recurring character Bunny. Dennis would go on to say that "you could say Extras changed my life." [6] In early 2006, Dennis presented and performed in BBC One's The Sound of Musicals and guested in New Street Law on BBC One .

In summer 2006, he played scriptwriter Nick Chase in a new comedy play called Marlon Brando's Corset , which toured the UK from July 2006, including a month-long run at the Edinburgh Fringe . [7] He appeared as a guest in August 2006 on the ITV drama series, The Bill starring as a man suspected of murdering his father. Dennis appeared alongside fellow former Russ Abbot performer Lisa Maxwell , who played D.I. Samantha Nixon in the series. At the 2006 Edinburgh International Television Festival , it was announced Les would make a return to the gameshow genre, presenting a new big-money quiz show titled In the Grid for Channel 5 . The show debuted on 30 October 2006 and aired for one series. From April 2007, he also hosted UKTV Gold 's TV Now and Then quiz show. The same month he guest starred on BBC One's Holby City . He appeared on The Friday Night Project as a panellist on "Who knows the most about the guest host?" when Rupert Everett guest hosted.

In theatre Les guest-starred as narrator in Side by Side by Sondheim at the Venue , London. As one of the team, he completed running the Safaricom Marathon in Lewa to raise funds for the BBC Wildlife Fund, screened on BBC One's Saving Planet Earth in July 2007. In August 2007, he starred in the hit play Certified Male- about the highs and lows of modern manhood – at the Edinburgh Festival . He then toured in The Servant of Two Masters, directed by Michael Bogdanov and at Christmas he returned to pantomime after a ten-year break, co-starring in Cinderella with Hollywood veteran Mickey Rooney at the Empire Theatre , Sunderland , produced by First Family Entertainment. 2008–2012 This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources . Please help by adding reliable sources . Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately. ( Learn how and when to remove this template message ) Dennis' autobiography, Must The Show Go On?, was published by Orion in early 2008.

In April 2008, Dennis toured in Eurobeat Almost Eurovision prior to a West End season in the show. Also in 2008, he narrated the home video clip show on Challenge , Les Dennis's Home Video Heroes , and appeared in the ITV documentary Les Dennis' Liverpool, which was, coincidentally, broadcast a week after BBC Two ran Alexei Sayle 's Liverpool, a three-part documentary on the city. During Christmas 2008 panto season, Dennis appeared as Buttons in Cinderella at the Empire Theatre , Liverpool. The pantomime also featured Jennifer Ellison as Cinderella, and Cilla Black as the Fairy Godmother . At Christmas 2008, Les was featured on the Wombats ' Christmas single and video Is This Christmas? in aid of MENCAP. Dennis was a celebrity player on Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong in 2008; he began the episode by mentioning how the set was a ripoff of the Family Fortunes set, only to have Alan Carr interrupt him by making an "X" with his arms and imitating the infamous "UH-UHH!" sound.

In 2009, Dennis played Herbert Soppitt in J.B. Priestley 's When We Are Married at the West Yorkshire Playhouse , Leeds and the Playhouse , Liverpool. At Christmas 2009, he returned to the Liverpool Empire to appear in Peter Pan with Fonz actor Henry Winkler and again in 2010 to play the role of Aladdin's brother, Wishee Washee in Aladdin. As of 2010, Dennis presents the children's TV series Fee Fi Fo Yum for CBBC . From 17 October 2011, Dennis was due to start a week-long stint in Countdown's Dictionary Corner. In 2011 he again worked with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant , with recurring appearances as a fictionalized version of himself in the Warwick Davis comedy series, " Life’s Too Short ". [8] From August 2012, he performed in the play Jigsy at the Assembly Rooms (Edinburgh) as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival .

[9] 2013–present Dennis has been playing the part of King Arthur in Monty Python's Spamalot at London's Playhouse Theatre since 2 August 2013 [10] In 2013, Dennis was a contestant in Celebrity MasterChef . He came runner-up to Ade Edmondson . He has since returned to the show as a guest judge. On 23 January 2014, it was announced that Dennis would join the long-running British soap opera Coronation Street , playing the part of Michael Rogers, (later changed to Michael Rodwell after press release) a fictional petty criminal. He began filming on 27 January 2014, and made his first appearance on TV on 24 March 2014. The show's producer Stuart Blackburn said: "Les is a fantastic performer and a real coup for Corrie. I can't wait for him to join the team". On 18 November 2016, Dennis' character Michael Rodwell was killed-off of Coronation Street, after suffering a heart attack and being left by enemy Pat Phelan . Personal life Dennis has an adult son, Philip, from his first marriage.

He also had an extramarital relationship with actress Sophie Aldred , which he documented in his autobiography. [11] Dennis married actress Amanda Holden , his second wife, on 4 June 1995. They had a temporary split in 2000 when Holden's affair with actor Neil Morrissey was exposed in the press, before eventually separating in December 2002 and divorcing in 2003. [12] Dennis met Claire Nicholson in 2005. The couple have a daughter, Eleanor Grace, who was born on 24 April 2008; [13] Dennis and Nicholson were married on 23 November 2009 in Highgate . [14] Their son Thomas Christopher was born on 14 April 2011. [15] Dennis is a Liverpool fan. [2] Filmography Patrick Barkham talks to Les Dennis about his frank autobiography | Books | The Guardian Share on Messenger Close He was "telly wallpaper", a washed-up gameshow host and a public cuckold. His younger, prettier wife was cheating on him with a laddish comic actor.

The love triangle was a fixture in the tabloids and Les Dennis broke down on reality TV, talking to the chickens on Celebrity Big Brother. The tale of how a traditional, working-class comic became the host of Family Fortunes might have had a limited appeal, but Dennis has sat down at his kitchen table and produced the written equivalent of that excruciating, exposing television meltdown. Warts-and-all and searingly honest are promotional cliches. Dennis's autobiography, Must the Show Go On?, is a bit different. Unlike other confessional books that are ostentatious in their honesty, and offer all kinds of rationalisations of bad behaviour, Dennis unflinchingly details his every failing - snobbery, misery, adultery, cowardice. The book recounts how he cheated on his first wife with actor Sophie Aldred, who played Doctor Who assistant Ace, and how he nervously wet his trousers before his first rehearsal for Extras. People are morbidly curious about one spectacular low: when his wife Amanda Holden went off with Neil Morrissey and Dennis clung on to their marriage in the face of a tabloid onslaught for another two and a half years.

But is that a ghost of a smirk - Dennis smiles a lot now and it is not a gameshow grin - when he answers the first question about Holden? He writes that he was "unspeakably cruel" towards his first wife (and it would be hard to disagree; she sacrificed two university degrees for his career and their marriage and he went off philandering). Was his second, Holden, unspeakably cruel to him? "Urrr. Phhheeew," he sighs. "I think that some of it reads very cruel and, um, she had her reasons. It's a tough one, that. It's a really tough one. I don't think it was unspeakably cruel but I think it was pretty cruel. But then the person that puts up with it is the idiot for doing so." Or, as he writes, his behaviour was "spineless" and his love "clinically insane". It is hard now to overstate just how greedily the press lapped up this love triangle when it was revealed in May 2000. "It was a red-top gift," says Dennis. "There were three people who were pretty well-known. Amanda was on the ascent.

I was telly wallpaper and to some people the Norman Maine-type failing celebrity, and Neil Morrissey was the bad boy. It just kept on going." Dennis's account of the affair is gripping. He is generous about most people in his book but studiedly neutral about Holden. Before her betrayal started, he could feel her detaching herself from him; a heartrending sensation. Then come the selfish minutiae of adultery: Holden gushing about what a great kisser Morrissey is after scenes they shoot for a telly drama (it's always "telly" with Dennis) and later, as they try to patch things up on their wedding anniversary, casually mentioning that she paid for dinner with Morrissey the night before with Dennis's credit card. These moments do not cast her in a good light. "Probably not," he agrees. "I really wanted to be honest about what had happened but I also didn't want to just stick the knife in. It's difficult not to." He adds that he hopes it is not "a totally kiss-and-tell book" because he "balances" revelations about others with "when I got it wrong and my failings". People like Dennis and seem to feel sorry for him.

Perhaps he just has a cunning knack of attracting sympathy. He has been entertaining TV audiences for all my life and yet the two clear memories I have of him both involve pity. When I was 10, my grandfather turned to me as we were watching telly together and said how sorry he felt for Dennis because he had lost his comedy partner so young. (Dustin Gee died, aged 43, in 1986.) Years later, I was strolling across Primrose Hill in north London and saw a pair of dog walkers, Holden and Dennis, at the height of their marital torment. Dennis looked every bit as glum as the "Les Miserables" headlines in all the tabloids. Poor Les, I thought, but now he laughs uproariously at my memory. "Looking back I don't think I did look very happy at that time." At this moment of humiliation, he discovered that his public image had been transformed. A combination of the British love of an underdog and the enduring double-standard that is utterly unforgiving of adultresses but tends to let men get away with it turned Dennis from gameshow host to national treasure.

In the middle of the crisis, Bob Monkhouse phoned him (that's what happens in the small world of old-school variety entertainers). "He just said, 'You've always been liked Les, but now you're really loved,' and I remember thinking, thanks, Bob, something to hang on to! Even though my private life is going down the pan, at least I'm loved." Dennis admits in Must the Show Go On? that he was addicted to celebrity and enjoyed being "the sad but likable victim". Rather than rant about the media, he also confesses that "there was a bit of fuelling of it on our part" and lists one occasion when he and Holden tipped off the tabloids so they could stage some supposedly natural pictures of their apparent marital bliss. Everywhere he went, strangers would say, "Keep your chin up, Les." "The one that I hated was that look of pity, like, 'Poor bloke,'" mostly from women.

He didn't put this in the book because it "sounded big-headed", he says, but after he came second in Big Brother in 2002 - losing out in the nice-guy stakes to Take That's Mark Owen - he was reluctantly dragged down to his trendy, twentysomething local pub by a mate. When he walked in, a spontaneous cheer rippled round the room. Dennis was newly popular but far from happy. He knew he had embarrassed himself on Big Brother and could only watch his antics for the first time "mostly from behind a cushion and occasionally from behind a sofa" when he began researching his book. "I was clearly having some kind of meltdown on telly," he says now. Somehow, he and Holden were still together but she could not greet him when he came out of the Big Brother house because she was busy filming Cutting It. So the tabloids kept a daily tally of how long Dennis had been out of the house without seeing Holden. This time, their marriage really was over. The cheery, cup-of-tea-brewing Dennis of today is a very different man from six years ago.

There are signs that he has been in therapy on the bookshelves of his handsome house in Highgate, north London - alongside Milan Kundera (The Unbearable Lightness of Being, naturally), Tom Wolfe and plenty of biographies are self-help tomes such as The Art of Sex Coaching - but he avoids the worst excesses of celebrity therapy twaddle. He does say that writing his life story has been "cathartic" and he has obviously found new happiness with his (non-celebrity) partner, Claire, 37, a life coach he met at a charity auction. At 54, he will become a father for the second time when Claire gives birth later this month. And he no longer speaks to Holden. "Amanda wanted us to talk and I just thought you've got to let those things go," he says. "I don't know what she'll make of it. There will be things she won't be happy with but she's got her voice to write her book when she wants to and I'm sure there'll be things about me that she'll have to say." He laughs. Beyond the gory marriage breakdown, his autobiography is full of fascinating episodes and anecdotes.

The third of five children brought up in Liverpool in the 1950s, Dennis was not far behind John Lennon and Paul McCartney at schools in the city. His elder sister hung out with Ringo Starr at the Cavern, and in the sixth form Dennis acted in an avant-garde group led by Clive Barker, the acclaimed horror writer, director and illustrator, alongside Jude Kelly, who is now artistic director of the Southbank Centre, and Dennis's first wife, Lynne. Dennis's go-getting mother was a frustrated actor and when Dennis saw dashing young comedians on telly such as Jimmy Tarbuck - hard to believe, but he was once daring and modern - he started to practise routines. When his family could afford their first holiday at a camp in north Wales, Dennis took his ripped-off skits, entered competitions and became a teenage impressionist. Its music and poetry may have attracted the headlines but by the late 60s and early 70s, Liverpool also had a thriving theatrical scene, featuring young actors including Trevor Eve, Julie Walters, Alison Steadman, Bill Nighy, Antony Sher and Jonathan Pryce. "You do wonder what was in the water in Liverpool," says Dennis.

He was torn between serious acting and comedy, but began earning proper money for his routines in working men's clubs. He earned the nickname "Bronco" because of his willingness to cling on, finishing his performance even when he was suffering comedy death before a stony-faced audience. Dennis vividly describes the last days of a proper working men's club scene and his move into TV, becoming part of Russ Abbot's Madhouse, the Little Britain of its day, where he worked with a charismatic, rebellious, young Michael Barrymore. As Dennis's career flourished, his personal life unravelled. Within 10 years, both his parents died, followed at the start of 1986 by the sudden death of his newish (and senior) comedy partner, Dustin Gee. Dennis greeted all three deaths the same way - by going straight back on stage and making sure the show went on. This decision, he says, sent him "off the rails a bit". Dennis describes his own jokes as "just something I've worked at. You know Hancock.

I had his torture without his genius," and says Tommy Cooper was the funniest man he has seen but he still believes the often-overlooked Gee "was the most talented and underrated man that I've worked with. I feel huge regret that his career was cut short at a time when he was just about to enjoy it. I felt really honoured that he wanted to be part of a double act with me." After Gee's death, Dennis neglected his marriage to Lynne, and their son, Philip, in pursuit of a new career as host of Family Fortunes, which he fronted for 16 years. People still make the "eugh eugh" buzzer sound that accompanied wrong answers on the show. "Everybody gets gameshow Tourette's when they are around me," he smiles. These days, Dennis is on good terms with both Lynne and Philip. I wonder, however, whether his first wife will feel hurt by her relatively unobtrusive role in his life story - she was clearly a huge support in his early career - but Dennis says the lack of detail about their relationship was to protect her. "I do carry a lot of stuff about the breakup with Lynne and Philip," he says.

Dennis may write about being eclipsed by Holden and feeling past his prime, but after their breakup he has enjoyed a professional renaissance. His image as a "cheesy gameshow host" no longer troubles him. "You can't turn the Titanic round that quickly can you? Maybe I can't turn it round at all," he says. But it has changed direction. He found himself on the untrendy side of the alternative-mainstream divide in the 80s and 90s. He describes an amusing BBC light entertainment department Christmas party in the 80s where the two sides (Ben Elton and Rik Mayall versus Little and Large and so on) eyed each other up suspiciously across the table. But the divide has since dissolved, and Dennis has enjoyed parodying his public breakdown. He has also picked up more serious acting roles and earned some decent reviews. He really set out his postmodern image as a self-deprecating, washed-up celebrity in the first series of Extras. People still talk about his bum-bearing, panto caricature of himself and Ricky Gervais judges it one of the best episodes.

Some critics, however, saw Dennis as a victim again, and thought Gervais and Stephen Merchant were far more mercilessly cruel to him compared with the other bigger-name celebrities in the series. "[Gervais] says they saw me as a whipping boy for a while and wanted me to get the chance to show it wasn't true," reckons Dennis. "It's edgy, but if you look at Curb Your Enthusiasm or The Larry Sanders Show, people go a certain way to lampooning themselves. I'm prepared to go the whole way." He has also done two seasons acting at the Edinburgh festival, which for an old-school comedian was "like going into comedy Mordor", and this month he will star in a new production of the festival hit Eurobeat - Almost Eurovision, a song-contest parody and interactive musical, in Wimbledon. In a reality television era that has been unforgiving to the old variety and light entertainment troupers, Dennis's dogged survival could be down to his charm and ability to make people like him, and feel sorry for him. He prefers to think it is because he is "a workhorse".

Dennis is not cured of his celebrity addiction - "if I do walk down the street and somebody goes, 'That's that bloke' and they can't remember my name, something inside goes, 'Shit,'" he laughs - but he's clear about one thing. When Claire gives birth, the show he is performing in Wimbledon most definitely won't go on. "If Claire goes into labour I'm running from the theatre, I'm out of there," he says.

Question: Who was Les Dennis's partner on 'The Laughter Show' before his early death in 1986?
Answer: Dustin Gee